- 9
...a sly, self-conscious twist on one of slasher films' ugliest stepchildren: the coed campsite massacre.
—Peter Debruge Variety
- 9
—Bill Gibron filmcritic.com
- 9
It's an exercise in metafiction that, while providing grisly fun, never distances viewers. And it's entertaining, while asking the same question of viewers and characters alike: Why come to a place you knew all along was going to be so dark and dangerous?
—Keith Phipps Onion AV Club
- 8
...a deliciously devious scare dance that keeps changing the steps until you lose your shit and fall helplessly into its demonic traps.
—Peter Travers Rolling Stone
- 8
I'm recommending that you rush out and see it, but not altogether because I think it's so totally great and completely works. Quite a bit of it is great, and most of it works, and the stuff that clicks is outrageously entertaining and funny, sometimes with surprising depth. But I also want you to see it so we can argue about what works and what doesn't.
—Andrew O'Hehir Salon
- 7
Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford are particularly funny in their middle-management roles.
—Claudia Puig USA Today
- 7
This is not a perfect movie; it's so ragged, it's practically constructed of loose ends. But it's exciting because it ventures so far off the map.
—Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times
- 7
A twisty puzzle, as promised by the Rubic's Cube cabin on the film's poster, this blood feast has gore galore to satiate your thirst. Read more: http://uk.eonline.com/news/movie_reviews#ixzz1s2PmH8LS
—L. Thompson E!
- 6
...pure mechanics, as if the shadowy Dharma Initiative of "Lost" switched agents and found itself at the center of a brain-bending ensemble drama.
—Michael Phillips Chicago Tribune
- 6
The Cabin in the Woods, regardless of its many genealogical links to prior Whedon creations, is an ideal Hollywood film in the Age of Pixar: spectacle for spectacle's sake, but infiltrated by intelligent commentary and an atmosphere of generosity and inclusion.
—Jaime N. Christley Slant Magazine
- 6
The movie's biggest surprise may be that the story we think we know from modern scary cinema - that horror is a fun, cosmic game, not much else - here turns out to be pretty much the whole enchilada.
—Lisa Schwarzbaum Entertainment Weekly
- 5
A horror comedy with a structural twist intended to emit an air of being something more, Cabin has an off-putting vibe of cocky self-confidence, a "don't you get it" conviction that it's something special. As with people, it's not a charming quality in a movie.
—Mark Olsen Village Voice
- 5
Novelty and genre traditionalism often fight to a draw. Too much overt cleverness has a way of spoiling dumb, reliable thrills. And despite the evident ingenuity and strenuous labor that went into it, The Cabin in the Woods does not quite work.
—A. O. Scott New York Times
- 5
The laughs come easily, the screams not so much. It's as if the filmmakers got so wrapped up in the satire they forgot to include the intense sensation of rising dread that creates all the thrills and chills that are part of the attraction.
—Betsy Sharkey Los Angeles Times
- 4
I've seen a lot of rip-offs of The Truman Show and a lot of rip-offs of Scream. I guess I have to give credit to The Cabin in the Woods for ripping off both at once.
—Kyle Smith New York Post